Prepare your n8n migration readiness pack

Use this guide if your team already depends on n8n. The useful output is a reviewable readiness pack: an outcome inventory, issue list, test evidence, and recovery questions. A technical maintainer should own hosting and production changes.

n8n announced version 3.0 beta on October 27, 2026; stable release is planned for early December. This is preparation for a breaking-change release. Moving from 3.x back to 2.x through an in-place downgrade is unsupported. Read the full migration article before changing an instance.

1. Start with one critical outcome

Pick a result someone depends on, such as a correctly assigned CRM lead or a client report with reconciled totals. Record its business owner, technical maintainer, schedule, connected systems, and consequence of a missed or incorrect result.

Download the editable readiness worksheet (CSV). The fictional example shows the intended level of detail. Replace it with your own approved, non-sensitive information.

2. Review the report together

With a suitable 2.x version, open Settings → Migration Report. n8n documents the report from version 2.39 and recommends the latest 2.x for current checks. An administrator needs to inspect instance-level issues; other users see workflows they can edit. Review both technical findings and the business purpose of each affected workflow.

The CSV export is a starting summary. Add your own workflow mapping, owner, acceptance criteria, and evidence. Do not treat an empty personal view as a complete instance assessment.

3. Turn findings into decisions

• Fix: record the affected behavior, proposed change, responsible person, and documentation.
• Retire: confirm the outcome is no longer required and identify dependent workflows before accepting retirement.
• Investigate: record the unknown, its owner, and what evidence will resolve it.

Automatic migrations create a new workflow version for review; the current published version continues until a replacement is published. Test the replacement before making that change.

4. Prepare tests that check the business result

For lead routing, use a normal inquiry, a duplicate, a missing owner, an unsupported region, and a delayed submission. Beside each input, record the exact expected destination, fields, owner, and notification behavior. Use a separate test environment and destinations that cannot contact real clients.

Compare expected and actual outputs, including duplicates and retries. Record a failed result honestly. Do not mark a workflow ready because its execution completed without an error.

5. Agree recovery and approval responsibilities

Ask the maintainer to document hosting compatibility, backups, restoration testing, configuration and credential handling, and the stop conditions. Docker deployment requirements and shorter default task-runner timeouts can affect the installation beyond its visible workflow nodes. A backup without a demonstrated restoration process leaves a material question unanswered.

For this workflow, list the finished outcome, owner, migration finding, proposed change, acceptance test, expected output, actual evidence, unresolved issue, and go-or-hold decision. Do not mark an item ready without evidence. Identify recovery questions for the technical maintainer; do not execute an upgrade.

Bring the right work to a guided session

An AI Teachers working session can help when ownership, connected systems, testing scope, or upgrade consequences are unclear. Use the existing session request to describe an “n8n readiness review.” Bring one critical workflow, a redacted migration report, its business owner, and access to its maintainer.

1. Agree the outcome and scope.
2. Review the relevant findings and dependencies.
3. Write the first test packet and evidence requirements.
4. Assign unresolved decisions and define a go-or-hold gate.

The planned deliverable is a prioritized readiness pack. Production migration, infrastructure changes, and guaranteed compatibility are not implied by booking a session. Confirm the fit and scope through the existing session process.